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Ecstasy's Masquerade
He Wanted No Part Of Her...
Hidden on a ship bound for the Montana territory, Elizabeth Hollis hoped she would finally find peace and freedom. However, when a mysterious, scheming young woman threatened to have the beautiful stowaway arrested unless she assumed the other woman's identity, all of Libby's hopes died. As she pretended to be a spoiled heiress engaged to a wealthy rancher, Libby couldn't wait for the dangerous charade to end- until she saw the handsome, virile Cord Chandler. Determined to be his bride, Libby refused to give up the masquerade For she knew that only this man could bring her to the heights of passion and teach her the meaning of ecstasy...
She Wanted Everything From Him...
Cord Chandler's fiance had arrived and so had her day of reckoning. The cunning vixen's sordid past now made marrying her impossible. Yet when the voluptuous dark-haired beauty gazed so innocently into his eyes, his first instinct was to shelter her from the world. But this unvirtuous miss needed no protecting. She was an irresistible siren who knew how to make a man beg for her kisses, her touch. And before he relinquished her to her own fate, he'd have her, tasting to the fullest the pleasures she was so willing to give...
Hidden on a ship bound for the Montana territory, Elizabeth Hollis hoped she would finally find peace and freedom. However, when a mysterious, scheming young woman threatened to have the beautiful stowaway arrested unless she assumed the other woman's identity, all of Libby's hopes died. As she pretended to be a spoiled heiress engaged to a wealthy rancher, Libby couldn't wait for the dangerous charade to end- until she saw the handsome, virile Cord Chandler. Determined to be his bride, Libby refused to give up the masquerade For she knew that only this man could bring her to the heights of passion and teach her the meaning of ecstasy...
She Wanted Everything From Him...
Cord Chandler's fiance had arrived and so had her day of reckoning. The cunning vixen's sordid past now made marrying her impossible. Yet when the voluptuous dark-haired beauty gazed so innocently into his eyes, his first instinct was to shelter her from the world. But this unvirtuous miss needed no protecting. She was an irresistible siren who knew how to make a man beg for her kisses, her touch. And before he relinquished her to her own fate, he'd have her, tasting to the fullest the pleasures she was so willing to give...
383 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published August 1, 1989
37 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
May 27, 2014
Nice, entertaining read that captured my attention at once.
I liked the fact that the heroine fought for herself and the hero even though I sometimes didn't like or agree with her means of doing this. She was a tenacious little thing determined to make the hero fall in love with her. Hero was an upstanding alpha who fell for the heroine pretty fast yet stubbornly fought it for a long time. There is no rape by anyone in the book. There is no cheating although the hero does give the heroine impression that he is interested in another woman twice. He does this in order to make her leave him. Sex scenes are pretty hot considering the book was first published in 1989.
I liked the fact that the heroine fought for herself and the hero even though I sometimes didn't like or agree with her means of doing this. She was a tenacious little thing determined to make the hero fall in love with her. Hero was an upstanding alpha who fell for the heroine pretty fast yet stubbornly fought it for a long time. There is no rape by anyone in the book. There is no cheating although the hero does give the heroine impression that he is interested in another woman twice. He does this in order to make her leave him. Sex scenes are pretty hot considering the book was first published in 1989.
September 14, 2015
I'm not sure why I finished this book, except that I'd just gone through a bad run of books I had to put down within the first 50 pages and the setup to this one did at least intrigue me enough to press past that point.
The setup is a little complicated, but here goes: Elizabeth is running from an abusive stepfather and stows away on a riverboat going up the Missouri River to Montana. A spoiled heiress on her way to meet the husband her father picked out for her spots her and decides to switch places to make it easier for her to have an affair while on the boat. But when they arrive in Montana and Elizabeth sees a wanted poster of herself (for hitting her abusive stepfather), she refuses to drop the masquerade. Since everyone on the boat loved her, and Katherine was acting like a lunatic, everyone believed Elizabeth.
The convoluted web of lies in this story is one of its greatest weakness, IMHO. Though the switcheroo made for an interesting setup, the truth is that the motivations for the switch were questionable in the first place, and then once Elizabeth decided not to switch back, I gradually lost sympathy for her. The longer the ruse played out, the more tempted I was to drop the book. I hate relationships based on lies, and disbelieve any "I love you" given under false pretenses.
But the book contained another great weakness -- characters who are completely unbelievable as human beings. First, there's Elizabeth, who was abused for years before getting up the gumption to hit her stepfather and run away. Yet her abusive past and her lower-class upbringing made no difference to her ability to pretend to be a wealthy heiress, nor did it keep her from being self-assured and self-confidence. In fact, the book kept stating that she had newly discovered this self-confidence now that she wasn't with her stepfather anymore, as if years of abuse melts away overnight.
Chandler was a problem too, although not quite as big. He was a bit of a stereotype, and most of his story was thin. He had had his unseen fiance (Katherine) investigated and spent most of the book refusing to believe that Elizabeth wasn't a whore, even after he took her virginity. (At that point, he downgraded her from whore to tease.)
Katherine was a witch with a capital B throughout, but she had a moment at the end (minor spoiler) in which she saw the light. It happened between the space of two heartbeats and was the least convincing character change moment I have ever read in my entire life -- and that's saying something!
I do not recommend.
The setup is a little complicated, but here goes: Elizabeth is running from an abusive stepfather and stows away on a riverboat going up the Missouri River to Montana. A spoiled heiress on her way to meet the husband her father picked out for her spots her and decides to switch places to make it easier for her to have an affair while on the boat. But when they arrive in Montana and Elizabeth sees a wanted poster of herself (for hitting her abusive stepfather), she refuses to drop the masquerade. Since everyone on the boat loved her, and Katherine was acting like a lunatic, everyone believed Elizabeth.
The convoluted web of lies in this story is one of its greatest weakness, IMHO. Though the switcheroo made for an interesting setup, the truth is that the motivations for the switch were questionable in the first place, and then once Elizabeth decided not to switch back, I gradually lost sympathy for her. The longer the ruse played out, the more tempted I was to drop the book. I hate relationships based on lies, and disbelieve any "I love you" given under false pretenses.
But the book contained another great weakness -- characters who are completely unbelievable as human beings. First, there's Elizabeth, who was abused for years before getting up the gumption to hit her stepfather and run away. Yet her abusive past and her lower-class upbringing made no difference to her ability to pretend to be a wealthy heiress, nor did it keep her from being self-assured and self-confidence. In fact, the book kept stating that she had newly discovered this self-confidence now that she wasn't with her stepfather anymore, as if years of abuse melts away overnight.
Chandler was a problem too, although not quite as big. He was a bit of a stereotype, and most of his story was thin. He had had his unseen fiance (Katherine) investigated and spent most of the book refusing to believe that Elizabeth wasn't a whore, even after he took her virginity. (At that point, he downgraded her from whore to tease.)
Katherine was a witch with a capital B throughout, but she had a moment at the end (minor spoiler) in which she saw the light. It happened between the space of two heartbeats and was the least convincing character change moment I have ever read in my entire life -- and that's saying something!
I do not recommend.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews